[Rarebooks] FS: First Edition in English of Pascal's Meditations, 1688

[Charles Agvent]

PASCAL, Blaise. MONSIEUR PASCALL'S THOUGHTS, MEDITATIONS, AND PRAYERS, 
TOUCHING MATTERS MORAL AND DIVINE, AS THEY WERE FOUND IN HIS PAPERS... 
London: Jacob Tonson, 1688. First Edition. The First Edition in English 
of Pascal's classic Les Pensees (1665). Octavo bound in early calf 
neatly rebacked at a later date in a slightly lighter shade of leather. 
Complete with front and rear blanks: [42], 375, [1] pages. The French 
mathematician and theologian, who invented the first digital calculator, 
wrestled with the inability of reason to understand God. His work with 
Fermat on the nature of probability presaged the development of modern 
decision theory, on the basis of which he argued that belief in God, 
although not rational, is a good bet: "Le coeur a ses raisons que le 
raison ne connait point" (The heart has its reasons that reason does not 
know at all.). Pascal died painfully at the age of 39 from what was 
likely cancer. Near Fine, complete copy of this classic.         $3,500.00

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